Little Gifts

I do this. I often tell my dogs that 'daddy' is home. I'm Mummy and my parents are nanny and poppy. I refer to them as mummy's babies and other terms of endearment but when talking to others about them I call them dogs. I don't care what other people call their pets as long as they treat them well and appropriately :) Because my sister lives with me I often say "your other mummy is home!" I know they love me best though.... And Tempeh adores her "Grandma" and goes all silly when she comes for a visit, even though Grandma never even brings her presents!

I call them fur babies (only to other dog lovers), not because I think of them as replacement children but because I know they are well loved.

That first one (black and white one in first post) is like a painting! Just beautiful!

You know your adoptive skin parents truly love you when they put a song to your video clips! I think they are keepers!

Thanks for those! I was waiting to see what the Gold Coast dates were as those were last years dates. I'll go check out the Greenheart Fairs now they sound great. For some reason I think I remember reading somewhere that Purina were attending a lot of the other organised Doggy Days since there are so many rather than holding their own anymore? It's a foggy memory from somewhere within so I could be wrong! ;) You are so right re the GC event dates - what a doofus I am! I think the Purina event may have clashed with Million Paws Walk here in Brissie, maybe last year? I only went once and it wasn't a very big event so I'm not surprised if they changed their approach. Greenheart is a bit eclectic. We've had a shar pei rescue stall there (we were 'recycling' them!) but I think we may have been the only doggy stall there at last year's events. Lots of people turn up with their pets though. There was a cute piggy on a leash at the last one!

Fantastic resource DogCulture! If you want to add it, the annual Gold Coast Pet Expo is on 5 and 6 Oct 2014 here in QLD. Another interesting family and animal friendly event here in QLD is the Greenheart Fair, usually held twice a year at two different locations around Brisbane. The next one is on 1 June 2014 at Chermside. Each year there is also Purina's Bark in the Park which I think is in multiple states, but I couldn't find any 2014 dates.

Apparently my sneezes are terrifying! The dogs and my sister can sneeze, but the universe caves in if I do it.

Yes I think I've become worried that mine has been pretending to eat her tablets and they are hidden in the garden somewhere! They seem to make the edible varieties so big that if your dog wont eat it you need to chop it into quarters to hide it successfully. Little tablets that we have had for health issues have been fine hidden in food but none of our dogs gets sick very often so I haven't had to deal with trying to give out a tablet that can't be administered with food. There just seems to be something about the brands of heartworm and worm tabs that I use that I can no longer disguise! Spot on it is! Thanks everyone!

Trust me, while she will immediately leave something if I tell her she is not to eat it, pretty much anything that can fit has ended up in her mouth for a taste test. She is 6 years old now so we have done ok for quite a number of years hiding them in food but finally it seems that once she feels a certain type of crunch in her mouth or smells that tablet smell, even on the edible varieties, her suspicious hat comes on and she wont open her lips for anything! She refused to eat her beloved chicken necks tonight because she knew! And her suspicious behaviour is now starting to make the younger dog suspicious too. One problem child is enough! I will check out the spot on, water soluble and injections. The spot on might be my first new choice I think. I've never used anything apart from tablets and edibles so wasn't sure what else was out there. And I know what I am capable of and putting a tablet into a dog's throat is not one of them. It distresses me to do so I don't even want to go there, especially if I don't need to.

I have an sbt who will eat anything. Except yummy, edible heartworm and worming tablets. I have resorted to some very underhanded means to disguise her tablets and the last couple of months she is having none of it and it is getting to the stage I am wasting money, having to throw out tablets covered in raw chicken/roast chicken/cheese/peanut butter/sardines/vegemite toast and start again with new ones. I've also tried to pretend it is my food that I've dropped (she'll eat lettuce under those circumstances usually) or that she is in competition with the other dogs for a special treat. Tomorrow it will be my third day of trying to dose her fully for just this month. Frankly I am getting sick of it and can't risk her not getting her full dose, especially of heartworm tablets. I have never, ever successfully stuck a pill down a dog's gob. So I don't think that is an option either. I'm not sure crushing it will make a difference either as she seems to smell it even when I just get it out of the packet and becomes distrustful of anything I feed her. Could I make her a banana chia smoothie maybe? (that's a joke but I am desperate enough to try it) So what do other people do? Surely I'm not the only one who struggles with this issue? Is there a worming paste that I could try? Is it also true that you can get annual heartworm injections? What are people's thoughts on those? And do I wait until she is due again for it or do I go now with her half dosed?

You have had a crap run RMS. It's not Bella's fault that her time has come and she is adding to the mix so what a beautiful idea to have a breakfast and beach date with her! Just enjoy the time you have left with your beautiful girl and try and let the other problems you have experienced recently sit in the background on their own for now. I'm sure you will be shedding enough accumulated tears next week.

This sounded like the only puppy school I've been to as well and sadly we were the main culprits of the chaos! I had a 13 week old rescue sbt who was used to rough housing it with two larger breed adult dogs and who loved everybody and everything and pretty much carried on like she had ADHD at every class. The rest were all molly coddling their fluffies and had no real interest in socialising or training them to do anything apart from lie on their laps and not pee on the carpet. My girl was always the first to piddle on the floor or be doing something she shouldn't. She was just a whirlwind of excitement. We tried so hard to be good, honest! I was very glad when she finally graduated and we didn't have to see their panicked faces again. Then we went and bothered new people in a beginners class for another 6 weeks.....

Woot!

The first crate I bought I overestimated the size needed and my sister and two dogs could fit inside it comfortably together. There was absolutely nowhere we could stick it without it being in the way. Fail.

I know there have been old threads on doggy toilets, both commercial ones and ones DOLers have made themselves with things from Bunnings. Maybe search doggy toilets and see what you come up with?

Thanks Boronia and Mita!

There is a DOLer (maybe Ellz?) who lost an sbt pup a couple of years back in Tassie under suspicious circs. I still have a feeling that dog is going to pop up somewhere in another state under circumstances like this. And I firmly believe the chinese crested pup that went missing after a horrific truck accident in NSW last year is happily living with a family many kilometres away from where it was originally found. I don't know how I'd cope if one of mine went missing and I had no closure on what really happened.

Stussy seems to know this too! Before Tempeh came to live with us and became the Queen of Morning Wake Ups Ready Or Not, once Stussy sensed I was safely out of my nightly coma she would jump all over me and start scratching the blankets off me and generally being irritating but I was obviously awake enough to always find it funny. Grumpy tired me would've gone spare at that kind of thing!

Up at Bald Hills, Mita. Too far away really.

Mine spoon me when it is cold but aside from that I can often be found only half on the bed because they need to spread out. I also find lots of present - sticks mainly but soggy toilet rolls are also common so a quick clean before getting into bed at night is essential for personal safety. Tempeh is also into scratching and licking while the rest of us are trying to sleep. I think she gets too hot. Her other bad habit is that she has to scrunch the bed linen into a ball during the day. When I get up I spread out the sheet and doona cover. Half an hour later she has it bunched into a nest right near my pillow and is fast asleep there. Before I go to sleep at night, after I check for sticks, I spread the linen back out and it starts all over again. I used to have a snorer and a farter. Special times.

I know Denali. If I was working locally it would take me about 2 hours to get to work every day! I quite like to go to new places to live temporarily though as I am on the lookout for my new 'forever' location! It is still a smidge rural there. Around the corner is all horse paddocks!

Thanks Boronia and Rev Jo!

I house/dog sat for a lovely young Sri Lankan couple late last year. They want to go on holiday again in March/April but I am already committed. They have been trying other options, including the Aussie House Sitters website but so far have had no success. One of the dogs was repeatedly beaten as a pup so they had never even gone on holiday until last year because he has anxiety around new people and they never wanted to leave him. I simply visited a couple of times before I house sat and he was fine while they were gone. I think that's why they have decided to take another longer holiday! They both have full time jobs and run a business so really do need to take a break. They are the loveliest couple, their dogs are extremely well behaved and loving and the house is new and has all the mod cons. They are very security conscious and obviously concerned about finding the right person to care for their dogs. There would be a payment involved but that is between whoever does the house sitting and them. They are not concerned about who you are, what you do for a living or even how old you are but someone sensible, mature and a dog lover will be important. So if you are interested, know someone or can offer suggestions it would be greatly appreciated. Happy if you want to PM me instead. Here are their two boys. This was the first night I stayed, which will give you an idea of how relaxed even their stressed boy was because he'd had time to get used to me before his skin parents left. Neither dog were any trouble for me.

I did a bit of shopping with them only today HW (chicken treats) and I bet that is where City Farmers buy their supplies from based on what I remember of the bulk packaging and labels. Will buy my lamb puffs straight from the source next time!

The doodle breaker also used to like to back up to things to poo so it wasn't uncommon to find a poo hanging off a shrub. A couple of times he backed into the rose bush and got several thorns in his butt. I only noticed because his back end was all quivery and when I touched him to see what was wrong I could feel the backs of the thorns under his coat. He was hit with the speshul stick.